CHAPTER V
THE DILEMMA OF WOLFENDEN
Wolfenden was evidently absolutely unprepared to see the girl whom hefound occupying his own particular easy chair in his study. The lightwas only a dim one, and as she did not move or turn round at hisentrance he did not recognise her until he was standing on the hearthrugby her side. Then he started with a little exclamation.
"Miss Merton! Why, what on earth----"
He stopped in the middle of his question and looked intently at her. Herhead was thrown back amongst the cushions of the chair, and she was fastasleep. Her hat was a little crushed and a little curl of fair hair hadescaped and was hanging down over her forehead. There were undoubtedlytear stains upon her pretty face. Her plain, black jacket was halfundone, and the gloves which she had taken off lay in her lap.Wolfenden's anger subsided at once. No wonder Selby had been perplexed.But Selby's perplexity was nothing to his own.
She woke up suddenly and saw him standing there, traces of his amazementstill lingering on his face. She looked at him, half-frightened,half-wistfully. The colour came and went in her cheeks--her eyes grewsoft with tears. He felt himself a brute. Surely it was not possiblethat she could be acting! He spoke to her more kindly than he hadintended.
"What on earth has brought you up to town--and here--at this time ofnight? Is anything wrong at Deringham?"
She sat up in the chair and looked at him with quivering lips.
"N--no, nothing particular; only I have left."
"You have left!"
"Yes; I have been turned away," she added, piteously.
He looked at her blankly.
"Turned away! Why, what for? Do you mean to say that you have left forgood?"
She nodded, and commenced to dry her eyes with a little lacehandkerchief.
"Yes--your mother--Lady Deringham has been very horrid--as though thesilly papers were of any use to me or any one else in the world! I havenot copied them. I am not deceitful! It is all an excuse to get rid ofme because of--of you."
She looked up at him and suddenly dropped her eyes. Wolfenden began tosee some glimmerings of light. He was still, however, bewildered.
"Look here," he said kindly, "why you are here I cannot for the life ofme imagine, but you had better just tell me all about it."
She rose up suddenly and caught her gloves from the table.
"I think I will go away," she said. "I was very stupid to come; pleaseforget it and---- Goodbye."
He caught her by the wrist as she passed.
"Nonsense," he exclaimed, "you mustn't go like this."
She looked steadfastly away from him and tried to withdraw her arm.
"You are angry with me for coming," she said. "I am very, very sorry; Iwill go away. Please don't stop me."
He held her wrist firmly.
"Miss Merton!"
"Miss Merton!" She repeated his words reproachfully, lifting her eyessuddenly to his, that he might see the tears gathering there. Wolfendenbegan to feel exceedingly uncomfortable.
"Well, Blanche, then," he said slowly. "Is that better?"
She answered nothing, but looked at him again. Her hand remained in his.She suffered him to lead her back to the chair.
"It's all nonsense your going away, you know," he said a littleawkwardly. "You can't wonder that I am surprised. Perhaps you don't knowthat it is a little late--after midnight, in fact. Where should you goto if you ran away like that? Do you know any one in London?"
"I--don't think so," she admitted.
"Well, do be reasonable then. First of all tell me all about it."
She nodded, and began at once, now and then lifting her eyes to his,mostly gazing fixedly at the gloves which she was smoothing carefullyout upon her knee.
"I think," she said, "that Lord Deringham is not so well. What he hasbeen writing has become more and more incoherent, and it has been verydifficult to copy it at all. I have done my best but he has never seemedsatisfied; and he has taken to watch me in an odd sort of way, just asthough I was doing something wrong all the time. You know he fanciesthat the work he is putting together is of immense importance. Of courseI don't know that it isn't. All I do know is that it sounds and readslike absolute rubbish, and it's awfully difficult to copy. He writesvery quickly and uses all manner of abbreviations, and if I make asingle mistake in typing it he gets horribly cross."
Wolfenden laughed softly.
"Poor little girl! Go on."
She smiled too, and continued with less constraint in her tone.
"I didn't really mind that so much, as of course I have been gettinga lot of money for the work, and one can't have everything. But justlately he seems to have got the idea that I have been making two copiesof this rubbish and keeping one back. He has kept on coming intothe room unexpectedly, and has sat for hours watching me in a mostunpleasant manner. I have not been allowed to leave the house, andall my letters have been looked over; it has been perfectly horrid."
"I am very sorry," Wolfenden said. "Of course you knew though that itwas going to be rather difficult to please my father, didn't you? Thedoctors differ a little as to his precise mental condition, but we areall aware that he is at any rate a trifle peculiar."
She smiled a little bitterly.
"Oh! I am not complaining," she said. "I should have stood it somehowfor the sake of the money; but I haven't told you everything yet. Theworst part, so far as I am concerned, is to come."
"I am very sorry," he said; "please go on."
"This morning your father came very early into the study and found asheet of carbon paper on my desk and two copies of one page of the workI was doing. As a matter of fact I had never used it before, but Iwanted to try it for practice. There was no harm in it--I should havedestroyed the second sheet in a minute or two, and in any case it was sobadly done that it was absolutely worthless. But directly Lord Deringhamsaw it he went quite white, and I thought he was going to have a fit. Ican't tell you all he said. He was brutal. The end of it was that myboxes were all turned out and my desk and everything belonging to mesearched as though I were a house-maid suspected of theft, and all thetime I was kept locked up. When they had finished, I was told to put myhat on and go. I--I had nowhere to go to, for Muriel--you remember Itold you about my sister--went to America last week. I hadn't the leastidea what to do--and so--I--you were the only person who had ever beenkind to me," she concluded, suddenly leaning over towards him, a littlesob in her throat, and her eyes swimming with tears.
There are certain situations in life when an honest man is at an obviousdisadvantage. Wolfenden felt awkward and desperately ill at ease. Heevaded the embrace which her movement and eyes had palpably invited, andcompromised matters by taking her hands and holding them tightly in his.Even then he felt far from comfortable.
"But my mother," he exclaimed. "Lady Deringham surely took your part?"
She shook her head vigorously.
"Lady Deringham did nothing of the sort," she replied. "Do you rememberlast time when you were down you took me for a walk once or twice andyou talked to me in the evenings, and--but perhaps you have forgotten.Have you?"
She was looking at him so eagerly that there was only one answerpossible for him. He hastened to make it. There was a certain lack ofenthusiasm in his avowal, however, which brought a look of reproach intoher face. She sighed and looked away into the fire.
"Well," she continued, "Lady Deringham has never been the same sincethen to me. It didn't matter while you were there, but after you left itwas very wretched. I wrote to you, but you never answered my letter."
He was very well aware of it. He had never asked her to write, and hernote had seemed to him a trifle too ingenuous. He had never meant toanswer it.
"I so seldom write letters," he said. "I thought, too, that it must havebeen your fancy. My mother is generally considered a very good-heartedwoman."
She laughed bitterly.
"Oh, one does not fancy those things," she said. "Lady Deringham hasbeen coldly civil t
o me ever since, and nothing more. This morning sheseemed absolutely pleased to have an excuse for sending me away. Sheknows quite well, of course, that Lord Deringham is--not himself; butshe took everything he said for gospel, and turned me out of the house.There, now you know everything. Perhaps after all it was idiotic to cometo you. Well, I'm only a girl, and girls are idiots; I haven't a friendin the world, and if I were alone I should die of loneliness in a week.You won't send me away? You are not angry with me?"
She made a movement towards him, but he held her hands tightly. For thefirst time he began to see his way before him. A certain ingenuousnessin her speech and in that little half-forgotten note--an ingenuousness,by the bye, of which he had some doubts--was his salvation. He wouldaccept it as absolutely genuine. She was a child who had come to him,because he had been kind to her.
"Of course I am not angry with you," he said, quite emphatically. "I amvery glad indeed that you came. It is only right that I should help youwhen my people seem to have treated you so wretchedly. Let me think fora moment."
She watched him very anxiously, and moved a little closer to him.
"Tell me," she murmured, "what are you thinking about?"
"I have it," he answered, standing suddenly up and touching the bell."It is an excellent idea."
"What is it?" she asked quickly.
He did not appear to hear her question. Selby was standing upon thethreshold. Wolfenden spoke to him.
"Selby, are your wife's rooms still vacant?"
Selby believed that they were.
"That's all right then. Put on your hat and coat at once. I want you totake this young lady round there."
"Very good, my lord."
"Her luggage has been lost and may not arrive until to-morrow. Be sureyou tell Mrs. Selby to do all in her power to make things comfortable."
The girl had gone very pale. Wolfenden, watching her closely, wassurprised at her expression.
"I think," he said, "that you will find Mrs. Selby a very decent sort ofa person. If I may, I will come and see you to-morrow, and you shalltell me how I can help you. I am very glad indeed that you came to me."
She shot a single glance at him, partly of anger, partly reproach.
"You are very, very kind," she said slowly, "and very considerate," sheadded, after a moment's pause. "I shall not forget it."
She looked him then straight in the eyes. He was more glad than he wouldhave liked to confess even to himself to hear Selby's knock at the door.
"You have nothing to thank me for yet at any rate," he said, taking herhand. "I shall be only too glad if you will let me be of service toyou."
He led her out to the carriage and watched it drive away, with Selby onthe box seat. Her last glance, as she leaned back amongst the cushions,was a tender one; her lips were quivering, and her little fingers morethan returned his pressure. But Wolfenden walked back to his study withall the pleasurable feelings of a man who has extricated himself withtact from an awkward situation.
"The frankness," he remarked to himself, as he lit a pipe and stretchedhimself out for a final smoke, "was a trifle, just a trifle, overdone.She gave the whole show away with that last glance. I should like verymuch to know what it all means."